Articles by Matt Medley: Design, Culture, and Creative Tech
How to Build a Design System in Figma—The Right Way
A product designer’s guide to tokens, variables, and scaling without chaos What makes a design system usable isn’t just consistency, it’s clarity. And what makes it scalable?
Best Google Font Pairings for UI Design in 2025
Header & Paragraph Combinations That Actually Work Font pairing isn’t just about aesthetic taste, it’s a product decision. The wrong combo can add friction, hurt readabilit
Beyond AAA: The Accessibility Gold Standard Checklist
For years, I treated accessibility as a finish line. Hit Level AA or AAA, check the box, move on. But the more I designed, the more I realized: WCAG Level AAA isn’t the summit—
Agent-Aware UX: Designing for Humans and AI
🧠 A visual guide to FRAME—the 5 pillars of AI agent UX There’s a new kind of user inside your product. It doesn’t click.It doesn’t swipe.It doesn’t sleep. AI agents ar
It’s Not Code. It’s Vibecode.
Why the AI shift in design and development needs structure, not just speed. Vibecoding is transforming software development. But without structure, it can wreck your codebase, conf
Outsmart the Loudest Voice
5 Shifts to Run Brainstorms That Actually Deliver Most brainstorms aren’t broken.They’re just designed to reward whoever speaks first. You’ve seen it play out:Someone claims
From Execution to Influence
The Mindset Shift That Elevates Designers Most designers chasing the next level focus on tools, polish, or portfolio tweaks.But the real gap between mid-level and senior?It’s not
Users Who Never Sleep
Why AI agents are a new audience, and what they demand from our tools There’s a new kind of user inside your product. It doesn’t click. It doesn’t swipe. It doesn’t sleep.
It’s Not a File. It’s a Conversation.
A breakdown of what makes design-to-dev handoff smooth, respectful, and scalable. Design-to-dev handoff isn’t the end of the design process. It’s a turning point, where clarity
The Interface Isn’t Missing
It’s Invisible UX — and it’s changing how we design everything The interface isn’t missing. It’s just no longer visible. Invisible UX isn’t about shrinking buttons or h
Stop Simulating. Start Listening.
Why disability simulations fail, and what product designers can do instead 👁️ Disability simulations are everywhere in design workshops. But they’re teaching us the wrong le
In Search of Solid Ground
Why personas need to evolve, and what to use instead Some users rush in. Others wait, circling the edges until the ground feels steady beneath them. We try to capture them in diagr